21. Enchiladas Verdes con Pollo

I feel like I fell of the face of the planet. How many days have I been missing? I've had crazy writers block when trying to put this recipe post together. Kate, I'm sorry I've held out on you for so long. Please forgive me!

I'm pretty particular about my Mexican food. This recipe is my own, and it's given me a reason to stay at home, yet again. It's getting harder and harder to go out to eat when we make it so much better at home.

This recipe has three parts to it if you so choose. The marinade, the tortillas and the rest. Each party is pretty simple. The marinade is simply tomatoes, lime juice, salt & water blended in a food processor or blender. It's thrown in to a ziplock back with the chicken and put in the fridge for 6 hours. Over night if you so choose, or if your plans get canceled, then the freezer. When you're done marinading, just drain the chicken and you're ready to start on the "rest" part.

The "rest" is a diced onion, diced jalepeno, diced green onions and the marinated chicken. The topping includes half of the diced green onions, cilantro, verde sauce & monterrey jack cheese. The chicken is thrown in to a pan over medium heat to brown. About 5 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the pan, add the diced onion, jalepeno and half of the green onions to cook while shredding the chicken. Add the chicken back in and start on your tortillas. If you so choose to not make homemade tortillas, just use store bought and you can skip to the assembly part.

When it comes to the tortillas, you'll need 12 either way. Whether you make them or just use premade. Set up your assembly line including your pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, your meat mixture and tortillas. Fill your tortillas, roll and place in the pan. I found that the homemade tortillas rolled a lot easier than premade. In other recipes I've had to heat the tortillas in a little canola oil for about 30 seconds each to soften them up to avoid splitting. In the spirit of trying to keep this moderately healthy at the same time, I avoided this step and had pretty good luck.

When your 12 adorable enchiladas are rolled and put to bed in their pan, top with a can of green enchilada sauce and monterray jack cheese. It's ready to go in to the oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is lightly brown and bubbly.

When it comes out of the oven, top with chopped cilantro and the other half of the diced green onions. You're ready to serve! I served it with my easy "refried" bean recipe. Delicious and impressive if you ask me.

Beautiful! Enjoy!

Enchiladas Verdes con Pollo

3 tomatoes

1/3 cup lime juice

1 tsp salt

1 cup water

2lbs chicken thighs or breasts

1 onion

1 jalepeno

1 bunch green onions

1 bundle cilantro

1 can verde enchilada sauce

12 homemade or corn tortillas

Monterrey jack cheese

In a blender or food processor, blend 3 diced tomatoes, 1/3 cup lime juice (about 2 limes), 1 tsp salt & 1 cup water. Place in a ziplock bag & add chicken. Seal the bag, pressing the air out. Toss to coat and place in the fridge for 6 hours or over night.

Drain the chicken and place in a pan heated over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side to brown. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add 1 diced onion, 1 diced jalepeno (remove seeds and membranes if you'd like to tame down the heat), and a half bunch of diced green onions to the pan. Allow to cook while shredding the chicken. When the chicken is shredded, add back to the pan and allow to cook for an additional 5 minutes.

If you choose homemade tortillas, prepare them now. You can find the recipe here.

Set up your assembly area. You'll need a 9x13 baking dish, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, 12 tortillas, the meat mixture and 1 can of verde enchilada sauce. Fill each tortilla with the meat mixture, roll and place in the pan. When all 12 enchiladas are rolled, top with the verde sauce & monterrey jack cheese.

Place in the oven at 350 degrees and cook for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is lightly brown and bubbly. Remove from the oven and top with chopped cilantro and half a bunch of diced green onions. You're ready to serve!